The new discipline of translation studies clearly finds itself downstream among humanities and traditional disciplines. Essentially interdisciplinary, this “science” lends those major disciplines a fair amount of its methods and concepts. Within this interdisciplinary concert, history plays a crucial role: history of translation (or history of translations) and history as such. Therefore, a methodological research triangle must integrate the following three components: a) translation studies theory; b) different translation practices that form its object of study and which it is called upon to clarify; c) the poles of the couple theory / practice will be re-situated in the logic of their respective common history.